Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators (Force Drawing Series)

This book definitely is an off-shoot of James McMullan’s High Focus approach to drawing, although Mattesi discusses many of his own concepts as well. It is similar to High Focus in that it teaches its readers: to see the figure as being made up of three dimensional forms, to use the all important hierarchical approach, NOT to just copy the figure using measurements and negative space estimations, to feel the forms as they are being drawn, and view drawing as a very interactive experience. It is different from McMullan’s approach in that Mattesi strongly emphasizes the importance of finding directional and applied “forces” (hence the name) throughout the figure. This becomes a very important concept for animators because of the nature of animating. In the figure drawings, the forces, the squashes, and the stretches are all exagerated, just as an animator has to exagerate his or her key drawings in this manner. Also, the drawings in the book tend to reflect Mattesi’s background in animation, whereas McMullan’s drawings are more realistic. I believe this book is written specifically for animators. However, the classically trained artist has much to learn from this book as well.

Force: Character Design from Life Drawing

I immediately applied some of the major principles highlighted in this superb book on approaching the task of life drawing in a different way. As a cartoonist, I have often struggled with trying to get a grip on drawing a human quickly and effortlessly. Sure, I have all the other books, but I came across this one accidently while browsing at my local bookstore. On a whim and to see if I had grasped the major concepts correctly, I used a book on dinosaurs and an advert I received in the mail as a starting point. I drew my rectangles and used a pyramid as the main body and I instantly saw an improvement in my drawing quailty and characterization with a more forceful feeling.

[…]

Please note, the cartoon characters at bottom of page where done before I read and studied this book. I also ended up buying the other book by Mike Mattesi, “Force: Character Design from Life Drawing”.

Esse não é um livro para aprender a desenhar, é um livro para aqueles que sentem que seus personagens parecem “duros”, sem uma expressão corporal legal, o que é muito comum para todos que começam a desenhar. Logo, esse é o livro que vai solucionar esse problema. Com o método de desenho do Michael Mattesi, você estará um passo a mais dos outros desenhistas. Nem sequer pense se deve ou não ter esse livro. Compre! Eu sei que o preço do livro é salgado, mas vale a pena, é uma obra ímpar.
Existem outros livros dessa mesma série, que são “Force: Character Design from Life Drawing” e “Force: Animal Drawing: Animal Locomotion and Design Concepts for Animators”. Valeria pegar pelo menos o último, focado em animais.

I’m not used to writing reviews, but I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to express how much I enjoyed the book and the one thing I think it could be improved.

What this book IS: The book is a comprehensive guide on how to approach the human figure in a different way. Focusing on motion and how to create a more dynamic and forceful drawing. It deals with line, perspective (applied to the figure) and even a little bit of clothing and folds.

What this book IS NOT: This is not your typical “how to draw the human figure book”. It doesn’t deal with the classical figure height measured in heads and neither is a book to learn anatomy at all. For that kind of reading I would suggest something on the likes of Andrew Loomis or even Human Anatomy for Artists from András Szunyoghy.

The binding, sadly, is another deal. You have to handle this book with a lot of care if you want it to last. I’m not used to leaving books laying around but I certainly would like being able to have it opened close to me while drawing to better apply some of it’s concepts. This is not possible, as you can hear the binding slowly “cracking” and after little use I had to use a bit of glue to prevent some pages from detaching.

Overall, an amazing and unique book that would seriously benefit from a better binding, which is the only reason why I didn’t give it five stars.

Don’t be put off by the cover. This is a serious book which stands out from the crowd and more than lives up to its expectation. I have bought a number of so called ‘expressive’ life drawing books where the authors’ drawing skills leave much to be desired, with gimmicky effects used to disguise a singular lack of talent. Mike Mattesi breaks this mould and provides real inspiration.